Nguyen Huu Dung, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said the export price of tra fish had reached US$3 per kilo and would increase.

The purchase price of tra fish in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta increased from VND19,500 per kilo in early December to the current VND23,500.

According to the Viet Nam Fisheries Association, scarce supplies and the slippage in the VND/US dollar exchange rate caused the tra fish price hike.

Around 80 per cent of the area of tra fish ponds in An Giang Province has suspended operations. The area has 300ha of tra fish.

Two-thirds of export companies nationwide have stopped operations temporarily because of the scarce supplies.

Duong Ngoc Minh, deputy chairman of VASEP, estimated that 50 per cent of the tra fish demand in the market remained unfulfilled.

Next year could see an even more severe shortage since farmers have not been eager to invest in raising tra fish because of the high risk and a lack of funds, Minh added.

If there is no satisfactory change, the country's output of tra fish next year will drop to 700,000-1 million tonnes.

Because there are no contracts to purchase tra fish at a determined price, farmers do not have peace of mind.

Raising tra fish is profitable for farmers if it is bought for at least US$1.2 per kilo.

However, enterprises have discussed setting the lowest export price, not the purchase price.

Farmers have lost money since suffering losses in raising tra fish in 2008, Le Chi Binh, deputy chairman of the An Giang Fisheries Association (AFA), said.

In addition, it now costs VND1.9 billion to raise 100 tonnes of tra fish, while formerly it cost VND1.4 billion, Binh said.

He said that farmers had made profits of VND100 million from 100 tonnes of tra fish previously, and were still making that amount.

The solution is to take measures that will help the farmers feel more secure.

A Viet Nam Tra Fish Association should be established soon to act as a firm guiding hand for Vietnamese farmers, Binh said.

The association should consist of representatives of farmers, export processing enterprises, foodstuff and medicine providers, he added.

"Recently, enterprises have had the full power to determine the price of tra fish. Breeding, selling and exporting tra fish will be orderly and disciplined when the country has an effective tra fish association," Binh said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the Government to develop methods to support fisheries to overcome difficulties, as well as encourage banks to give loans to raise tra fish.

The ministry is co-ordinating with relevant sectors to set a floor price for tra fish in January.

The country&rsquo;s oil and gas import in August increased 70% from July and was equal to the figure of the same period last year. The country&rsquo;s import value for oil and gas in August was up 68% month on month and 50% year on year, the General Department of Vietnam Customs reported on Friday.

As the futures prices were ruling high exporters were covering aggressively and actively farm grade pepper from the spot market while investors were buying exchange pepper at Rs 3 above the September delivery price. Overseas demand appears to have made the exporters buy actively. Even Vietnam processor-exporters were said to be covering farm grade pepper from India to meet their export commitments, market sources told Business Line.

Under the plan, the export value of rattan and bamboo products is expected to reach US$530 million, accounting for 33% of the total; pottery and porcelain is targeted to be US$480 million (30%); weaving, US$270 million (17%); art objects and wooden household items, US$130 million (8%) and other groups together should make up US$190 million, accounting for the remaining 12%.

The industry currently faces many challenges, ranging from macroeconomic policies and trade barriers to the world market, in hitting its export targets while continuing to develop. Nguyen Thi Tong, general secretary of the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association, spoke about these issues.

The GSO said that the EU remains the biggest footwear importer of Việt Nam with US $511 million in revenue in Q1 of this year, up 13.3% against the same period last year and accounting for over 40% of the country&rsquo;s total footwear export turnover.

The pepper price has increased by nearly VND50,000/kg, or 66 percent, compared with the beginning of the crop (mid-December last year). The price hike is partly due to the undersupply on the world market. At present, the export price of black pepper is US$4,456/ton, a year-on-year increase of over US$1,600, while white pepper has risen stronger (by more than US$3,000/ton) to approximately US$7,000/ton.

Farmers, breeders and processors should be aware of this and apply strict standards in all their operations, Pham Anh Tuan, deputy director of the General Department of Fisheries told a conference in HCM City on April 25.

The RoK imported mainly rubber, minerals, garments, seafood, electric wire and cable, giving high estimations to garments. Vietnam is currently the second biggest supplier of garment products to the RoK after China. In the first three months, its garment export value to the RoK surged over 176 percent.

Honey products were exported to the US, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Notably, the US imported 80 percent of the honey products from Dak Lak province. In 2011, the company plans to explore new markets, such as Middle East and North America.

The rise was attributed to the fact that the capital city has penetrated major export markets such as EU, the US, Japan, China and ASEAN along with new potential markets such as Africa, Middle East and South Asia. The city has also focused on potential export items, including agricultural products, garment and textile, electronics, computer components, peripheral devices, glass and handicrafts.

Exports of luxury timber interior furniture to major markets, such as the US, the EU and Japan are growing rapidly. There was also a high increase in exports of outdoor chairs, for which Vietnam producers are particularly renowned.

Viet Nam-Russia trade was not commensurate with the potential and expectations of the two countries.&nbsp;Last year, two-way trade was worth US$1.8 billion despite the economic downturn and the two countries target $3 billion by 2012. Viet Nam accounts for just 0.24 per cent of Russia's total imports.

The new rates come into effect on Monday. The association made the decision to decrease the floor price of 5 per cent broken rice in the face of weak exporter demand, with traders saying exporters had already bought what they needed for the Christmas and New Year period.

Vietnamese enterprises should take full advantage of this opportunity to increase their exports to this promising market.&nbsp;However, exporters to Bangladesh faced risks if they were not fully conversant with the payment methods.

&quot;The record high export value was fuelled by higher quality shrimp farming practices this year,&quot; said Nguyen Huu Dung, Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) deputy chairman. &quot;Shrimp exports continued to grow this year despite the world economic downturn and market uncertainty.&quot;

The new rate would fall from 12 to 6 per cent for petrol products and from 5 to 2 per cent for kerosene and diesel oil. The measure was aimed at reducing domestic trading losses, following a Government decision to stabilise the price of petrol and oil products by the end of the first quarter next year.

In late November 2010, at a meeting with the press to introduce products and business strategies in ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, Shigenori Tokumitsu, Deputy President of Visual Products Company belonging to Toshiba Group, said that it is highly possible that the group will relocate its LCD TV production base to Indonesia instead of Vietnam.

In 2011, the country attracted $14.7 billion in FDI, equal to 74 per cent of 2010. Over $11.5 billion came from 1,091 newly-licensed projects while the rest was from 374 existing projects that increased their capital.

In January 2011, the government agreed the plan to make privatization for EVNTelecom whereby EVNTelecom will sell a part of state holding to strategic investor and offer preferential shares to the employees. Of which, EVN will hold 50.6% stake, 0.4% stake will be held by the employees and 49% stake for FPT Co and FPT Telecom Joint Stock Co (FPT Telecom).

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group has become one of the most successful investors in this neighbouring country with the total investment capital of US$1 billion in such areas as rubber, sugar cane, mining and hydropower industries.

The State Securities Commission (SSC) would check DVD auditing files in Ernst &amp; Young in late September, according to SSC&rsquo;s vice chairwoman Vu Thi Kim Lien. The Accounting and Auditing Department and Vietnam Association of Certificated Public Accountants also join the inspection. A&amp;C Auditing &amp; Consulting, which audit the DVD&rsquo;s 2008 financial statement, would be checked as well.

The investment capital of Vietnamese investors exceeded $10.7 billion and chartered capital of Vietnamese investors also reached approximately $10 billion. They mainly invested in mining sector with about $17 billion, of which, Vietnamese investors poured over $4.3 billion and chartered capital of over $3.7 billion.

The Vietnamese insurance market is being competed by both domestic and international insurers and is hurt by economic challenges. Hence, insurers are forecast to face difficulties in funds and premiums. Optimistically, insurers reported revenues growth of 10-15 percent in the first eight months.

The government&rsquo;s Resolution 11 released early this year is a timely response to the double-digit inflation, draining forex reserves and a devaluating local currency, said Tomoyuki Kimura, ADB&rsquo;s country director in Vietnam.

At an earlier working session between the two ministries, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) requested the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to hike import tariffs on NPK fertiliser from the current 6 per cent to 6.5 per cent; delay imposition of a 3-per-cent export tax on steel ingots and finished steel; and slash the export tax on coal from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.

A recent VASEP conference pointed out that if Vietnam failed to pursue the lawsuit, it could lose the US market to other big exporters like India and Thailand who had won a similar suit, Thanh Nien newspaper said.

In its Asian Development Outlook 2011 Update (ADO Update), the ADB said Resolution 11, a comprehensive policy package, has made good initial progress by helping the exchange rate to stabilise, allowing foreign reserves to be replenished, and lowering monthly inflation outcomes during June &ndash; August.

&ldquo;VietinBank has made a good choice of advisers,&rdquo; said Alan Pham, chief economist at VinaCapital Investment Management Ltd. HSBC has a depth of expertise and wide distribution network globally that will help get the Hanoi-based bank a &ldquo;good rate,&rdquo; he said.

Last week, the central bank decided to increase the reserve requirement ratio by 1 per cent to 8 per cent for foreign currency deposits less than 12 months and to 6 per cent for foreign currency deposits over 12 months.

The Vietnamese authorities deserve our applause for facing up to tough economic issues. Today&rsquo;s rate hike was just another step in the long battle against inflation. Although the policy stance has clearly shifted from boosting growth to improving economic stability since February, the data flow remains challenging.

According to IMF&rsquo;s regional economic outlook, Vietnam has overcome the global crisis thanks to the substantial financial stimulus package worth 5 percent of its GDP and monetary easing policies. The IMF commented that Vietnam is of the fastest growing economies in Asia. In 2010, Vietnam posted a growth of 6.8 percent thanks to demand for both domestic and international growth. However, the expansion policy adopted during the crisis also has increased macroeconomic risks.

The State Bank of Vietnam set a ceiling on dollar deposit rates on April 13, restricting interest payments for individuals to 3 percent and those for non-credit institutions to 1 percent. Holdings of dong can attract returns of as much as 14 percent.

&ldquo;There is a big difference between what the regulations state and their actual implementation, hindering investors&rsquo; plans,&rdquo; Han Jae Jin, chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce&rsquo;s foreign affairs board, said.

Arepresentative from Amcham, said at the workshop on the investment environment improvement workshop held in HCM City on April 26, that enterprises not only have to spend money, but also a lot of time to fulfill customs procedures. It takes exporters three or four days on average to get customs clearance. Especially, it would be a big trouble to enterprises, if they export perishable products and they have to wait for customs procedures.